


Happy Accidents

by renjunethereal



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bob Ross quotes, Inspired by Twitter, M/M, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Self-Indulgent, donghyuck is a menace, he falls h a r d, jeno is a golden boy because i say so, lowkey five plus one but not really, mark is there if you squint really hard, not beta read but ill get to it i swear!!!, when jaemin falls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-13 10:16:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20172601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/renjunethereal/pseuds/renjunethereal
Summary: Inspired by @Imjaebabie on twitter who let me write this:"au where Jaemin is trying to hit on Jeno but keeps just hitting him on accident instead"





	Happy Accidents

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to see the original tweet:
> 
> https://twitter.com/Imjaebabie/status/1156204752784580611?s=21

Jaemin’s having a bad day.

He’s been nursing a headache since he woke up this morning, which would usually be fine if he got his daily coffee to soothe the pain, except he woke up late for his morning class (despite him clearly remembering to set his alarm last night) and had to go through it tired, annoyed, and decaffeinated. Not only that, but he was assigned a long and unnecessary assignment about the analysis of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide. All due in two weeks.

Jaemin’s have a _ really _bad day.

So you can imagine how thrilled he is when he narrowly escapes getting hit in the face with a soccer ball, managing to catch it instead. His hands burn slightly from the impact but before he can yell at the perpetrator to watch it, no sound comes out.

“Sorry! Can you pass me that?” Oh. Oh wow. _ Wow. _The first thing Jaemin sees is muscular thighs, before his eyes trail up a soccer uniform to meet bright eyes and wind swept hair. He must make some kind of sound of agreement because the angelic boy looks at him expectantly. Jaemin suddenly realizes that he’s just holding a soccer ball and staring like a dumbass, and tries to throw the ball back to him.

Now, Jaemin's not the most athletic person in the world, but he likes to think he can hold his own. He tries to go run when he can to keep his body toned, and after years of basketball and video games has developed great hand eye coordination, but the throw he just made would suggest the complete opposite. It was both too low and too far, the throw aiming the ball at a spot a solid four inches from where the angelic man stands, and rolls down the hill and onto the soccer field almost unnaturally slow, like even the ball’s unimpressed with Jaemin’s terrible throw and wants to spite him.

“Uh, thanks!” Just when Jaemin thinks of burying his head into the ground from embarrassment, the boy smiles at him and suddenly everything’s okay, the birds are chirping, his headache is gone, the sun is shining—yet it doesn’t compare to the absolute radiance on the boy’s face, his eyes going into crescents and his teeth almost blindingly white. 

Jaemin watches him leave, watches his figure become smaller and smaller as he runs down towards the field, and once he’s certain he’s not paying attention to him anymore, he sprints back to his dorm.

Jaemin bursts into his apartment with all the subtlety of an angry rhino, his eyes searching for his roommate. “Donghyuck! I have an emergency!” he shouts, and he thinks he can hear some muffled bickering until the man in question steps out of his room, lips shiny and hair mussed.

“Hello to you too.” He grumbles, and Jaemin takes one look at him before he smirks.

“Mark’s in your room, isn’t he?” If Donghyuck wasn’t so flushed already maybe he would look flustered, but instead he laughs especially nervously. He and Mark have been dancing around each other all damn semester. Despite being attached at the hip and being caught in various inappropriate positions (Jaemin has seen Mark’s dick more times than necessary), both of them vehemently deny being together.

“Pshhh, what? Nooooo.” Donghyuck’s voice goes up an octave, letting Jaemin know that he's lying.

He clears his throat, “anyways, this isn’t about me.” He sits Jaemin down forcefully on the couch, sliding into the chair adjacent to it. “Dr. Lee will see you now. What seems to be the problem, child?”

“I think I saw an angel.” Jaemin says immediately. Donghyuck nods slowly, even though he’s internally rolling his eyes and huffing a _ here we go. _

“Oh my _god_, Hyuck, you should have seen him. It was like I was looking in the face of God, and apparently God has platinum blonde hair and can play soccer and has the prettiest smile in existence_—_”

“Wait,” Donghyuck says. “Does he do this when he smiles?” Donghyuck squints his eyes into crescents, and Jaemin nods frantically.

“Yes! Oh my god, do you know him?” Maybe he isn’t so hopeless after all. Donghyuck nods.

“His name’s Jeno. Mark’s on the soccer team with him.” Donghyuck just looks on, amused, as Jaemin flops the rest of his body onto the couch and lets out a dreamy sigh. 

“Jeno,” he says wistfully, testing the name on his tongue. “Even his name is perfect,''

Donghyuck’s about to ask if Jaemin wants him to get his number from Mark, but Jaemin’s already up in the clouds, so he just lets him deal with it himself. 

Turns out that Jaemin dealing with it himself hasn’t had a lot of results. 

It’s been three days already, and all Jaemin has managed is catching a glimpse of the boy turning a corner or talking with friends. Now, Jaemin isn’t afraid of showing interest in someone, but even he has his boundaries, so he lets him be. 

The perfect opportunity finally arises when Jaemin spots Jeno—blessedly alone—walking while he just finished a class. Before he can stop himself, Jaemin approaches him and taps on his shoulder.

The second Jeno turns around, Jaemin’s suddenly hit with the fact that he’s wholly unprepared and has nothing to say. He doesn’t have to though, because Jeno seems to recognize him and opens his mouth to speak.

“Hey! You’re that guy from that practice on Monday!” Oh god, he’s smiling at him again. Jaemin flashes his own smile in a weak retaliation.

“Uh, yeah. My name’s Jaemin!” Oh god, that was terrible. Since when was he so awkward?

“I’m Jeno!” _ Yeah, I know. _Jaemin wants to say, until he realizes it would sound all kinds of creepy if he did. 

“I, um…” Shit, what’s he gonna do now? He searches frantically for an excuse, and his eyes land on the guitar case in Jeno’s hand.

“That guitar case looks kind of heavy!” Jaemin says before he can stop himself. “I could carry it for you...if you want.” He hopes he looks welcoming and friendly and not at all like he was waiting for this moment to talk to him (like he actually is).

“Oh! Sure, that’s so nice of you.” Yes! He thinks Jaemin’s nice! Jeno moves to hand over the case, and Jaemin can feel his heartbeat spike when their hands brush. “I’m just heading back to my dorm, if you’re okay with tagging along.”

“Sure!” He says, way too eagerly. “You play?” Jaemin asks, before mentally slapping himself. _ Dumbass, of course he plays, he was carrying it around in the first place. _

“Yeah, I’m not that good though.” Jeno dips his head down, shy. They’re walking side by side now, Jeno parely a pace ahead so that he can lead them in the right direction.

Feeling more confident now that he's not fumbling over an excuse to talk to him, Jaemin lets himself relax, offering Jeno his best flirty smile.

“I’m sure you’re great. Maybe I could hear you play sometime.” He winks, just because he can, and Jeno bursts out a laugh.

“Maybe.” 

To Jaemin’s delight, they manage to have a pretty pleasant conversation without Jaemin making things too awkward with his obvious pining. He learns that Jeno actually lives two floors below him, which is super convenient and makes it really weird as to how they haven’t seen each other before, and that he plays forward on the soccer team. Jaemin tries some witty pick up lines on him that only makes Jeno laugh more than anything, and tells him about that one summer he volunteered at a local animal shelter. He practically jumps for joy when Jeno gets an impressed glint in his eye, the latter telling him about how he has two cats of his own. In short, Jeno is positively precious and Jaemin wants to keep him.

It’s when they’re in front of the dorm when Jaemin realizes he needs to make some moves on him _now_, lest an opportunity like this never comes up again.

Jaemin turns towards Jeno swiftly, and he can barely get a word out before he realizes he just hit Jeno in the shin with his own damn guitar. 

Jeno’s kneeling now, clutching at his shin for dear life, and it would be way more terrifying if Jeno wasn’t laughing like this was totally okay (in the far corner of Jaemin’s mind, he coos because Jeno's laugh sounds fucking adorable) and like Jaemin didn’t just do the equivalent of beheading the statue of David.

Guitar case forgotten (it’s probably fine, right? The case is there for a reason), Jaemin crouches down, frantically apologizing, and practically hovers over Jeno, like something else is going to come out and hit him.

Jaemin’s still practically begging for forgiveness when Jeno stands up again, dusting off the non existent dust off his jeans. 

“Jaemin, it’s fine, it was an accident.” He doesn’t look the least bit bristled even though he definitely should, and Jaemin’s still looking at him with big, soft eyes.

“Oh my god, stop making it a big deal.” Jeno’s still chuckling as he picks up his guitar from the ground. “I’m fine, I swear. Anyways, I’m gonna get going. Later, Jaemin.” He flashes one more breathtaking smile before walking off, leaving Jaemin in a mess of emotions. So, y’know, how he usually is.

After doing some moping in his room, Jaemin steps out into the world again for two reasons and two reasons only. The first being coffee (which he practically inhaled ten minutes earlier), and the second being his stupid assignment that’s due in about a week.

He's wholly prepared to sit down in a study cubicle for the next two hours until he sees Jeno in all his angelic glory near the far corner of a bookshelf. The light streaming through the window covers him in a soft glow, and Jaemin can feel his heartbeat in his ears. It’s redemption time. 

Jaemin dips out of Jeno’s line of sight, walking past the other side of where Jeno is perusing the shelves so he can sneak up behind him. 

“Hey,” he whispers, and he sees Jeno’s shoulders jerk before turning around to look at him. 

“Sorry, did I scare you?” Jaemin flashes his best smile, the one that makes his eyes look brighter, and he thinks he sees a flush creep up Jeno’s neck but he’s not sure.

“No, you just startled me. What’s up?” Jeno asks, tilting his head. In this moment he has an almost uncanny resemblance to a dog, and he has to blink extra hard to get the image of Jeno with ears and a tail out of his mind.

“Nothing much. I have this project that’s kicking me in the ass right now but it’s okay.” Oh god. He’s _ giggling _. Fuck that’s adorable.

“Me too. I have this bio test on Friday and I’m not looking forward to it.” This perks Jaemin’s interest a little.

“Going into science?” Intelligent, cute, and can play guitar? Shit, what can’t he do?

“Sports science, in a sense. I wanna be a personal trainer.” The thought of Jeno in a gym, ordering people around all sweaty and gorgeous makes his mouth dry, and Jaemin very suddenly wants to go to the gym.

“That’s cool.” he croaks out lamely, and he doesn’t give time for Jeno to judge him before clearing his throat. 

“What books are you looking for? I could help out.” He leans as nonchalantly as he can on the bookcase, an easy smile on his face. An easy smile that soon turns terrified when he feels the bookcase tipping under his weight, and he sees Jeno match his expression. His reflexes kick in and he grips the sides of the bookcase to push it upright again, but he barely gets to breathe a sigh of relief when some of the books on the top shelf wobble and hit Jeno right in the head.

“Ow.” Jeno rubs his head in pain, and Jaemin opens his eyes from where he’s wincing to look concerned.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry, are you okay?” He notices at this moment that the whole library is looking at them, and his fight or flight instincts kick in. Before he can make a run for it, Jeno does it for him.

“Yeah, I think so. I’m just gonna go lie down for a bit. Take care, Jaemin.” Jeno smiles at him but Jaemin doesn’t even notice, too mortified to say anything as he looks at Jeno’s disappearing figure.

**Hyuck: **jaemin

**Hyuck: **jaeeeeeminnnnnn

**Hyuck: **NANA

**Nana: **WHAT

**Hyuck: **can you stop being a sad mopey boy for two secs and give me my phone

**Hyuck: **i forgot it

**Nana: **why do you even need it you’re at the gym

**Hyuck: **uh how else am i gonna send sweaty gym selfies to mark

**Nana: **gross!!!

**Hyuck: **and bc i wanna listen to music so drop it off pweeeaaaasseee

**Nana: **smh fine

**Hyuck: **good boy

**Hyuck: **im by the treadmills

The first thing Jaemin smells when he steps into the gym is something in between old sweat and hand sanitizer, and it makes his nose scrunch up. Ew. He’s fully prepared to dip in and dip out so he can go back to daydreaming about Jeno. Jeno and his pretty eyes, pretty side profile, and laugh that sounds like bells…

Jeno that’s standing in sight of a nearby doorway, taking long gulps from his water bottle and looking _ amazing. _ Jaemin wonders how he’s so close to drooling even though his throat is dry. Jeno puts the bottle down and looks like he’s about to face him and before Jaemin knows it he’s sprinting through a different doorway, partly because he knows Donghyuck is here but also because he doesn’t want to see Jeno, not when the last time he saw him he hurt Jeno, _ again. _

“There you are, loser.” Donghyuck snaps him out of his reverie, and Jaemin sighs in relief. Seeing Donghyuck in his gaudy ass workout shorts always brings his blood pressure down. Some teasing about being forgetful and being thirsty for Mark later, Jaemin hands him his phone.

“Here’s your phone. Don’t worry, I only took a couple hundred selfies this time.” Hyuck rolls his eyes but takes back his phone back without a hitch.

“Just for that I’m gonna go tell Jeno in the next room how much you want him to sit on your fa—”

“—if you even _ dare _ you are dead to me. _ Dead_, Lee Donghyuck.” The menace in question just laughs it off, like a dick.

“I’m surprised you aren’t over there fawning over him right now.” At this, Jaemin pouts, and sits down on an empty bench so he can curl in on himself.

“I don’t know if he wants to see me right now.” Donghyuck’s eyebrows move like they’re two very well kept worms communicating to each other, meaning he’s confused.

“Why? You’re kinda a catch, I thought you knew that. You certainly never let me forget it.” Jaemin just pouts harder, if that’s possible, and Donghyuck is slightly shaking from how hard he’s trying not to laugh. “_Wow _ , you’re _ whipped _whipped.”

“I kinda accidentally made some books hit him in the head yesterday.” He says in a small voice, and Donghyuck winces, before nodding slowly in understanding.

“That’s rough, buddy.” Jaemin glares at him as Donghyuck laughs at his own joke, before he calms down again.

“Okay, but it’s probably fine as long as you apologized like I’m sure you did. Besides…” Oh. Ew, Donghyuck has his pervert face on now. “You’re missing quite the show over there. Not gonna lie, if I wasn’t already in—uh, in something with Mark, I’d hit that.” 

Jaemin literally gags at the thought, but he glances back at the open door, pondering. “Maybe I could say hi.” He mutters.

Donghyuck gives him a surprisingly strong pat on the back (fuck, he really has been working out), and shoos him out of the room. Jaemin catches the image of Donghyuck lifting up his shirt in the mirror and gags some more, walking faster towards the next room.

Jeno’s there, throwing focused jabs at a punching bag with focused eyes and a practiced stance, and Jaemin has to make an effort to keep his jaw from falling. He doesn’t realize he’s just kind of standing there, staring, until Jeno glances his way and straightens his back, holding onto the bag so it stops swinging.

“Jaemin! What’re you doing here?” He looks pleasantly surprised, and Jaemin figures that’s a good sign.

“Uh, I was just passing by and I wanted to say hi? I figured you could use some company.” He says, because saying ‘_I wanted to watch you work out because you’re really hot’ _doesn’t sound quite as unassuming.

“Oh! Well, hi!” Jeno does his cute little laugh thing again and Jaemin’s heart melts. Sigh, he’s so cute. He beckons him to come closer and Jaemin does, albeit warily. He’s not sure if he can handle sweaty, muscular Jeno at such a close distance.

“Do you want to learn a few moves? You seemed pretty interested earlier.” _ Maybe it’s because I’m interested in you. _Jaemin nods, though, because spending time with Jeno while being educated seems like a pretty good 2-in-1 deal. 

“Cool! So, what you wanna do is…” Jaemin is blessedly a quick learner, so he manages not to fumble too much with what Jeno wants him to do. The little touches Jeno does to adjust his stance still makes him burn up, though. 

“Hey, you’re kinda good at this! You should learn with me, maybe I could finally have a gym buddy.” Oh god, that sounds great. That sounds really great, except Jaemin’s both protective of his own face and Jeno’s so he’s not sure how that would work out.

This is his opportunity to flirt, so he leans against the wall, ready to say something really smooth, when he remembers that the wall is indeed not a wall, but a punching bag suspended by a singular chain to a singular hook, and he’s falling down. The floors are covered with mats, thankfully, so his fall isn’t all that tragic in a physical standpoint, but the laws of physics really love to fuck with him because while Jeno’s gazing down at him, looking very adorably worried, the punching bag starts to swing _ back towards him. _Time seems to slow down as seventy pounds head towards Jeno at a speed of oh-my-god-jaemin-is-so-fucked miles per hour, the force of impact making Jeno let out a loud “oof”.

Despite suffering way more damage than Jaemin, Jeno still crouches down after he stops the bag from swinging to check up on him, because he’s perfect like that. “You okay?” He offers him a side smile and Jaemin really, _ really _wants to die now.

He picks himself up off the floor with great reluctance, because he would’ve loved to stick his head into the ground and avoid everything. He’s so embarrassed right now, he’s sure his face is red all over and that everyone is looking at them now. 

“Yeah, I uh, I’m gonna—gonna go.” Jaemin doesn’t even have the time to wince at how much of a dick he’s being right now, blurting out a quick ‘sorry!’ before he’s dashing out the door at a pace that would rival Usain Bolt’s, hoping the wind in his face will cool him down.

Jaemin sighs, his whole body sagging as he stares mindlessly at his coffee. The coffee shop didn’t have enough ingredients for his usual 8 shot americano, so he had to settle for regular black coffee. It tastes like water when he drinks it.

He’s been avoiding Jeno for two weeks now (he’s been counting), turning the other way whenever he sees him and taking the stairs so that they don’t run into each other in the elevator. It’s not that he doesn’t want to see him, but it’s for Jeno’s own good, not his. 

He doesn’t know why this keeps happening. Why he can’t hold a conversation with Jeno for more than ten minutes without hurting him somehow or embarrassing himself, or if fate’s feeling extra shitty, both. He doesn’t even want to date him anymore (though he definitely wouldn’t mind), he just wants to stop making a fool of himself whenever he’s in Jeno’s presence.

He’s so caught up in his moping that he doesn’t notice someone slip into the seat in front of him.

“Hey, Jaemin.” Jeno says. It’s the first time he’s heard his voice in weeks. He looks really cute, the ice cream cone in his hand matching his hair. Jaemin can feel his heart beat faster and he wonders if he could go into cardiac arrest if he keeps it up. It seems like the more viable option at the moment.

“Shit, Jeno, you have to go.” At Jeno’s confused expression, Jaemin sighs frustratedly. “I have to stay like, ten meters away from you at all times or something bad will happen to you. Again.”

Jeno makes a long "Ohhhh" sound (not like that, you perverts), his head bobbing slowly in understanding. Still, he doesn't move, if anything he leans in closer to Jaemin.

“Is this why you’ve been avoiding me? Because you’re scared of ‘hurting’ me?” Jeno asks. He sounds like he's holding in a laugh, like he's not taking this seriously, even though he definitely should be.

“Yes! Jeno, every time I’ve talked to you I hit you with something, or dropped something on you, or caused some kind of chain reaction where you just generally get hurt and—” He’s making wild hand gestures now, a habit he picked up when he gets nervous. “I don’t want you to get hurt anymore. Especially if _ I’m _ the cause of it, for fucks' sake—” He realizes his hand strays a little from his personal bubble far too late, and it knocks over his coffee, the liquid spilling onto Jeno’s thigh, _ because of course it fucking does. _

Jeno hisses as the heat bleeds through his clothes and onto his skin, making him crush his ice cream cone into sticky sweet smithereens. Jaemin, utterly mortified, jumps out of his seat to slide into the one beside Jeno and wipe at the mess. 

“I’m so so so so sorry, oh my god, why do I keep doing this—” 

“Jaemin.” Jeno says. Jaemin doesn’t hear him though, because he somehow made the stain on Jeno’s thigh _ larger _, what the fuck.

“Jaemin.” Jeno calls again.

“You should honestly file a restraining order on me, I wouldn’t even be mad. Well maybe just a teensy tiny bit but—”

“_Jaemin! _” Jeno grabs the other boy’s wrist with surprising strength, and Jaemin raises his head up slowly. 

Before he knows it, Jeno sets the napkin in Jaemin’s hand aside and replaces it with his own, ice cream residue and all. “I’m fine. I box, remember? I can take a hit.”

There’s a comfortable silence between them as Jaemin collects his thoughts, and he sighs. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Jeno asks.

“For making so many mistakes. For hurting you. And just, y’know, generally being a mess.”

Jeno’s stares at their interlaced hands, before looking up at him. “I wouldn’t call them mistakes. People don't make mistakes, just happy accidents.”

Jaemin’s eyebrows shoot up, a smile pulling at his lips. “Did you just quote Bob Ross at me?”

Jeno giggles, his eyes disappearing into the crescents that Jaemin likes so much. “Yeah, and?”

Jaemin leans in so that their foreheads are touching, so close he can feel when Jeno exhales. 

“You’re perfect.” he says. No playfulness, no hidden innuendo, just honesty. Jeno turns a soft shade of pink and squeezes at Jaemin’s hand. And for the first time this whole month, Jaemin feels at peace.

“We _are_ cleaning this up though, right?” Jeno asks after a while, grimacing at the mess on the floor.

“Yeah—yeah, let’s go do that.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sick so like I was half dead throughout a good chunk of this but i got through it! tysm to ImJaebabie for writing amazing things (jeno and hide? iconic) and letting me write this bc i've recently had an obsession with nomin and norenmin fics and needed to fuel it out somehow.
> 
> tsym for reading and i hope you enjoyed it! i love and appreciate feedback because im hella inexperienced so uh indulge me i guess
> 
> twt: https://twitter.com/yeah_uh_no
> 
> cc: https://curiouscat.me/yeah_uh_no


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